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Biographies

Ann Hodge is the president of Hodge Products, Inc. and the oboe and English horn specialist. She holds two Master of Music degrees: one in Oboe Performance and the other in Music History from Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas, completed in 1987 and a Bachelor of Music degree from Ithaca College (Ithaca, New York), completed in 1985. Ann was a freelance oboist in the Washington, D.C. area for many years and a member of the Arlington Symphony (Virginia) under the baton of Ruben Vartanyan from 1993-2008. She has spent many of the intervening years developing Hodge Products, Inc. and raising her family. Her husband, Alan, joined the company full-time in 2001. Ann and Alan are homeschooling parents of six children, five of which are grown. Recently Ann has returned more actively to the freelance scene, playing with the Lynchburg Symphony and throughout the central Virginia mountain region.

For reed comparison, Ann plays on a Loree FE series oboe with a bell modified to match the D series, and a Howarth English horn, paired with a silver-plated John Symer bocal. Both instruments are made of grenadilla wood.

Alan Hodge is the vice president at Hodge Products, Inc., and is responsible for technical support, facilities, and resourcing, among other things. He holds a Master of Arts degree (1987) in Education and a Bachelor of Science degree (1986) in Computer Science, both from Virginia Tech. Prior to joining Hodge Products full-time in 2001, Alan was a software engineer.

K.C. Chai is the Content Marketing Manager for Hodge Products Inc., working on the internet presence and the company blog, and he is our bassoon expert. An active freelance bassoonist and contrabassoonist wherever he lives, K.C. holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree (2016) in Bassoon Performance from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; a Professional Artist Certificate (2009) in Bassoon Performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts; a Master of Music degree (2008) in Bassoon Performance from the University of Nevada, Reno; and a Bachelor of Music with Elective Studies in Business degree (2005) from Oklahoma State University. Originally from Sapulpa, Oklahoma, K.C. is also a professional singer (lyric tenor) and an accomplished amateur player of the piano and saxophone, and he has been known to dabble at the organ. He has also taken two semesters of oboe lessons. In his spare time, K.C. likes to explore the local dining scene (he especially loves Asian food and good burgers and steaks), reading, and values his time spent with family and friends.

For purposes of information and comparison of bassoon reeds, K.C. plays on a Fox Model I (same as the model II but with more rollers) bassoon (long bore) paired with a pre-war Heckel CC2 bocal and a gold-plated Heckel CC2 XLR bocal.

Adalinda Morris completed a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Accounting in 2018 from James Madison University. She has been with the company since 2013. Adalinda is the office manager, and is a perpetual student at heart: she loves reading to learn new things. She also likes hiking in her spare time and loves the music of Ricardo Arjona. Originally from Honduras, Adalinda has been a proud American since summer of 2017.